


Debt Collectors

by callmecathy



Category: Person of Interest (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-28
Updated: 2013-05-28
Packaged: 2017-12-13 07:00:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 736
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/821383
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/callmecathy/pseuds/callmecathy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Finch visits Nathan's grave. Reese follows him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Debt Collectors

**Author's Note:**

> Warnings: No beta.  
> Disclaimer: I own nothing (unfortunately)

Reese didn't say anything and he didn't move. Just let her lean against him, hair obscuring her face as she sobbed, arms wrapped tight around him. They stood like that for minutes and each one felt like an hour. 

He found Finch in, predictably, the mystery section. The billionaire was standing with his back to him, one finger absently running down the spine of a book. Reese had just wrapped up a number- two, to be precise, a brother and a sister. He'd only been in time to save one.  
"She's safe."  
Finch didn't turn. "Good."  
"She's planning on leaving the city. Somewhere in the country. She wanted the chance to put it behind her. I took the liberty of buying her a train ticket."  
Finch returned the book to the shelf with a deliberate finality. "I hope she does. But as you well know, we carry a debt for the dead." He turned.  
Reese took in his slightly strained expression, the draw of shadows beneath his eyes.  
"Are you okay?" He asked.  
"Just fine, Mr. Reese." He moved past him and into the outer library. Reese watched him.  
"Going somewhere?"  
"I thought I would take a walk." His tone indicated he wanted no company.  
Reese listened to the gate rattle shut; he walked further into the mystery section. He pulled the book Finch had been looking at off the shelf and read the spine: _The Spy Who Came in From the Cold_.

* * *

Reese pulled to the side of a narrow dirt road, being careful to avoid the ditch. He was in the country, far out, on a road blanketed in leaves- Fall had come in with a fight- and lined by trees on both sides.  
He had followed Finch. The man had led them into a network of streets, through and out of the city. He'd proceeded down the road Reese was now on; Reese had stopped farther back, to avoid being seen.  
He got out of his car and flipped his collar up. The wind was vicious, great drafts of it rolling in like waves, creating a constant wuther in his ears. A few stray droplets hit his face.  
He liked the carpet of leaves under his feet, the light crinkle and the muffled noise. About half a mile in, he judged, he passed Finch's car. It was on the shoulder of a road next to a sign: Old Oak Cemetery.  
As Reese made his way down the road it began to wind upwards into a slope; Finch's small figure came into view in the distance. And graves: as he closed the distance those timeless, ruined stones rose out of the grass. He may not mind places like hospitals, but graveyards sent threads of anxiety winding down his spine.  
Finch walked past the graves, examining the names- he was looking for someone. Somewhere at the far edge he stopped and tucked his hands in his pocket.  
Reese ghosted through the trees until he was close and hidden, maybe eight, ten feet away. He watched Finch stand there for fifteen minutes. Any other place, any other time, Reese would have appreciated the oaks and the birches- all huge, they'd been there for decades- but they looked like skeletons.  
When Finch spoke he jumped.  
"I'm sorry."  
For a second Reese thought Finch was speaking to him.  
"I'm so, so, so sorry." Finch limped forward and put his hands on the top of the grave. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry." He repeated it over and over, the words streaming out like an unstoppered sink- and Reese knew what that was like, had heard those words pour through his skull for months after Jessica. Everything Reese had was screaming at him to go to Finch, but a far deeper instinct told him that that would be a mistake.  
Finch shuddered and fell silent. He bowed his head.  
"I told myself for three years that it wasn't safe to come here. But I think we both know that that wasn't the truth. I was a coward." He lifted his head. "The irrelevant list is being saved, Nathan, one person at a time. You were right. I- I have a partner. His name is John. You two wouldn't get along, but you'd like him. He- I wanted to say thank you... for being such a good friend." A pause. Reese waited. "I never thought I'd find another one. I was wrong."


End file.
